It had been three weeks since I had been on the air. I felt a little rusty. I had no idea what to play and just wandered aimlessly through the stacks before my show trying to find things to play. Some Fridays I feel inspired and others I do not. This past Friday, I was not. All I could think about was how much I didn't want to go into work after my radio show was over.

I don't really know anything about Manu Chao. When I told Craven this a couple months ago, he said, "REALLY!?!? Gosh. Where have you been?" Maybe I'll go out and get his new record, La Radiolina, and try to figure out what I'm apparently missing.

On Friday, I played a track off Beirut's new one, The Flying Club Cup, that featured a ukulele. So, of course, I ran out yesterday to buy it. It is going to require some serious listening (i.e. not in the car) as it sounds dense and complex. It's a big oompa-oompa orchestral sound. I really like Zach Condon's voice, too.

Friday night, I went out to the General Store Cafe in Pittsboro with Mark to check out their food and to see Lightnin' Wells play. Good golly. What he can do with the guitar and the ukulele is mind-blowing. We were both impressed. The General Store Cafe is a weird place. There are chatckies on every surface, which is kinda distracting. Unfortunately, I wasn't too impressed with my Mayan burrito. But the music was wonderful. Lightnin' even played the "12th Street Rag" which is one of my favorites. It's a fast-paced poppy song that seems impossible (to me) to master. But Lightnin' rocks it. Not too long ago, I put that song on for an evening of wig-wearing, rollerskating and cake-baking. That was a great night.

I gotta get back to practicing my uke. It's been weeks. The past week, I've been still trying to get over this Maltese cold which has made me feel like doing absolutely nothing. I am better today and I know I should get some practicing in before I attempt to play with the Durham group on Wednesday. They're good enough that they can just choose a new song, print out the music and just start playing it. Heck, one guy can just play any song without any sheet music at all. It's intimidating.

11 comments:

The first Manu Chao album is great. It is called "Clandestino." The second album, "Esperanza," was pretty disappointing, actually. I saw Manu Chao play in Catania in 2001 in support of this album. It was kind of like a latin Mighty Mighty Bosstones. I haven't heard the new one, "La Radiolina," yet. One can only hope it is a return to form.

Manu Chao was famous for his band Manu Negra way, way back in the day. Mostly in Europe.